FYI, whether the USA Today story is correct or not about riskiness is another matter. While much of the current focus on housing finance has been (appropriately) on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac), the data below should that FHA and VA still play an important role in U.S. Housing Finance.

Riskier borrowers are making up a growing share of new mortgages, pushing up delinquencies modestly and raising concerns about an eventual spike in defaults that could slow or derail the housing recovery. The trend is centered around home loans guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration that typically require down payments of just 3% to 5% and are often snapped up by first-time buyers. The FHA-backed loans are increasingly being offered by non-bank lenders with more lenient credit standards than banks.

The landscape is nothing like it was in the mid-2000s when subprime mortgages were approved without verification of buyers’ income or assets, setting off a housing bubble and then a crash. And Quicken Loans, one of the largest FHA lenders, dismisses the concerns as overwrought. Still, for some analysts, the latest development is at least faintly reminiscent of the run-up to that crisis.

“The share of home mortgages serviced by nonbanks increased from approximately 6.8 percent in 2012 to approximately 24.2 percent in 2015 (as measured by unpaid principal balance). However, banks continued to service the remainder (about 75.8 percent). Some market participants GAO interviewed said nonbank servicers’ growth increased the capacity for servicing delinquent loans, but they also noted challenges. For example, rapid growth of some nonbank servicers did not always coincide with their use of more advanced operating systems or effective internal controls to handle their larger portfolios—an issue identified by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and others.”